


Ticking time bomb

by Anonymous



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Anal Sex, Billy Hargrove Needs Love, Child Abuse, Flashbacks, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Military, Oral Sex, PTSD, Self-Hatred, Smut, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2019-04-22 05:11:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14301516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Billy decides that he should put his anger to use instead of taking it out on people who don'tdeserve it, what better place to be angry then in a war zone?





	1. Chapter 1

It was spring time in Hawkins Indiana and Billy was in his car, with the air conditioner on, filling out some forms. 

Some forms that he's been wanting to fill out for a while now and he could, now that he just turned eighteen. 

He sighs and finishes the last of it. He looks at the papers and starts to maybe reconsider. Suddenly there's knock at his window making him jump a little. 

He sees that it's Max. He rolls down his window. "What?" He snaps. "Can you take me to the arcade?" Billy gives a fake laugh, "you practically ignore me for months but only talk to me when you need me to take you somewhere?"

"Are you going to take me or not?" Billy almost wanted to say no just to spite her, but she'll probably tell Susan, then Susan will probably tell Neil. Billy does feel like getting a lecture or a slap in the face for not being nice to his sister.

"Fine, fucking get in." Max gets in and Billy starts to drive "Why do you have to be such an asshole?"

"Oh I don't know maybe because you injected me with some kind of drug."

"Even before that." Max mumbles. For the rest of the ride they simply ignore Each other.

 

When they got there, Billy parks the car, he sees Steve with the other brats. "Okay I got you here now go. I don't feel like seeing the rest of your rat pack." Max glares but gets out of the car then flips him off.

Billy flips her off right back. He starts to back up his car and then turn, heading for the exit the of parking lot. As he was driving he didn't notice a puddle that's been in the parking lot.

It's been raining a lot for the past few days and there's huge puddles in places like parking lots. As he's driving the kids walk by. He drives into the puddle. The kids get wet and let out loud shrieks.

"Billy!" Max yells out so loud that he can hear her voice from the car. He stops the car and rolls down the window. "What..0h."

"What did you that for asshole?" Lucas shouts. "Calm the fuck it was-" but it the kids get away from his car and they go to steve. 

It looks like they're telling him what happened. Steve glares at him and goes over to his car. "What's your problem Hargrove? I know you don't like kids but you don't have to be that much of dick."

Billy growls and gets out of his car. "What is it with you and these little brats, you act like you’re their mother or something."

"I don't have to be a mother to care about kids, maybe you should try it with Max sometime?"

"Why should I? After what she did." Well he does care about Max, he's just hasn't been too happy with her ever since that night at the Byers.

"You were going to kill me."

"Not my fault you can't take a punch." 

"Likes it not my fault you're afraid of your sister." Billy growls and shoved him. "Fuck off." Steve glares and shoves him back. "I don't feel like doing this Hargrove. Leave the kids alone."

"Listen Harrington I don't have to listen to you and it-" before Billy could finish that sentence he was punched hard on the cheek. His nose started to bleed. Steve then grabs his shirt and yanks him forward. "Leave them alone or I'll do what you did to me ten times worse."

They stare intensely at each other before Billy speaks. "Fuck you." He then head butt Steve, making him shout in pain and making him let go of his shirt. "Fuck all of you!"

"Billy! What the hell is wrong with you!?" All the kids rush over to steve to make sure he's okay.

"Shut the fuck up Max. By the way Harrington it was an accident, I didn't want to splash the little brats, I wanted to get out of here! Fucking hate you, fucking hate this town, fucking hate these damn kids and I just fucking hate you!"

He goes to his car and opens the door. "Have your precious Steve drive you back Max!" He gets in his car and drives a away.

"Fine I will asshole!" 

                )()(

               While Billy was gone Steve was in his car with an ice cold can of soda to his forehead. The kids were still in the parking lot, letting the sun dry them off.

Someone taps on his glass and he sees its Dustin. Steve opens the door. "Are you okay Steve?"

"Yeah buddy I'm okay, don't worry." 

"God he's such an asshole, if he hurts you again then I'm getting the bat to his face." Dustin says with so much bitterness in his voice.

"Well to be fair, I did throw the first punch. Plus he did say it was an accident."

"Yeah, but he shoved you!"

"It was only a shove, it wasn't even that hard...maybe I should say sorry or something?"

"Why should you say sorry? even if was an accident, he never apologized to you about beating you up." That was true, Billy hasn't apologized to him about that. He gave an awkward apology to Lucas, but not to him. 

"I know, but we shouldn't have maybe jumped to conclusion." 

After thinking about it some more, Steve makes a decision. "Hey While you guys dry, I'll get you some snacks okay?"

Dustin smiles and nods. Steve closes the door and starts his car. Once he drives off, he doesn't head to the convince store, he heads to Billy's house. He's dropped Max off a few times so he knows where it is.

 

(()()

At the house Billy was in his room packing his stuff away. On his way here he stopped at the post office and mailed his forms. Soon in a month or so he'll be out of here. 

As he's packing he hears a knock at the door. He stops what he's doing to go answer. 

There he opens the door and instantly glares when he sees who it is. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Um...sorry."

Billy thought he didn't hear right for a moment. "What?"

"Sorry, I shouldn't jump to conclusion. I figured out you were going to tell me it was an accident...before I punched you." 

"That's all you're here for?" Steve nods. "Well don't worry about it, soon I'm going to be out your hair, so go back to your brat pack."

"Where are you going?"

"None of your goddamn business." With that Billy slams the door in his face. Steve sighs and starts heading back to his car and remembers to head to the store to get snacks like he said.

Later in the day Max is dropped back at her house, she thanks Steve and goes inside. Inside her parents weren't here yet so she has time to watch T.V. in the living room before they get here.

But first she heads to her room to change her clothes, they were still a little wet. As Max was walking towards her room she hears a snipping sound from the bathroom. 

She looks to the door and sees that's it cracked. Max takes a look and what she sees is very surprising. She sees Billy cutting his hair with a pair of scissors. 

"What the hell?" She whispers. Billy hears her and looks towards the door. "Don't you know it's rude to spy on people?"

"You left door cracked. Also what you did to steve was wrong. I told you not to hurt my friends."

"Your friends, steve Harrington. That's all you ever talk about it. Also he threw the first punch. Steve Harrington and your friends can go fuck themselves."

"Fuck You! If you try being nicer then maybe you have friends too!"

"I had a friend you little fucker, a very close friend until you and your big mouth ruined everything." Just thinking about that incident made Billy want to punch the wall or just break something. "Why are you still mad at that? he was an asshole like you!"

"But he was still mine!" With that Billy slams the door. Max stomps her foot and kicks her foot on the door. "you're a fucking jerk."

"And you're a whiney little bitch." 

Max growls and goes to her room. She slams her door out of anger. She started to wish Billy would just leave if he's so miserable here, that way she wouldn't have to deal with him. 

 

)()(())

In a month. He got a letter back, it was an acceptance letter. In two days he would be ready to leave, his hair was cut again, not too much, he still had some curls and he had a suitcase packed ready to go. 

At dinner Billy decides to tell his family what's happing in two days. Right now they were eating Susan's dry pot roast, it had to be smother in gravy to taste okay.

No one was talking to each other like usual until Billy decides to speak. "Mom, Dad I have something I need to tell you."

"What?" Neil snaps, a little annoyed that the silence was interrupted. "In two days I'm leaving. I enlisted into the military and they accepted me."

Max and Susan were shock, while Neil looked a little bit impressed. "Good, you're not a real man until you serve for your country. For once you're not disappointing me."

Well it's the best he's going to get from Neil so he accepts the backhanded complement. 

"If you're leaving in two days, make sure you pack."

"I already did, I'm ready to go." Neil nods and goes back to eating, Max stared at him as if he was crazy and Susan just looked speechless.

The next day Max was with her friends at the arcade. Steve and Nancy were also there. They all noticed how she was a little off today, like something was bothering.

"Is there something wrong Max?" Lucas ask, she sighs as she loses her game on purpose. It takes a few seconds before She answers. "It's Billy."

"What did he do? did he hurt you?" He ask sounding protective, but she shook her head. "He joined the military." 

"What?"

Dustin and the others overhear a little and go over to Max and Lucas. "What's happening?" Dustin ask. "Billy joined the military." They look at Lucas and Max in disbelief. "Really?" Max nods. "Cool that means he'll be out of our hair."

"You'll probably be happier without him." Mike adds. "I guess, but the army is dangerous." 

"Why did he join in the first place?" Steve ask and Max only shrugs, then Nancy rolls her eyes. “He probably only joined because he thought it was cool." Most of them nod in agreement. "Don't worry Max, he'll probably be back in a couple of weeks. Just because he acts tough doesn't mean he's brave and can handle something like that."

"Well...what if he could?"

"I highly doubted it Steve. Billy Hargrove is just an angry person who wants to do reckless shit and not care about stuff, like serving a country."

Steve still didn't agree with her. Billy maybe angry and a little reckless, but that doesn't mean he can't be brave. At first Steve didn't think of himself as brave until he fought monsters.

"If he does comeback, let's hope he doesn't us any army techniques to try to kill us." Lucas says before turning to a game to play it. 

As they all went back to playing their games, Steve wonders if all of them could be wrong about Billy.

Two days pass and Billy was waiting by his house with a suitcase. He was waiting for a bus to pick him up. He was smoking a cigarette while he was waiting.

"Can't wait to leave this dump." He says, As he stood there he heard the door opened to the house. Billy turns around and sees that it's Max. She goes over to to him.

"Steve is coming to pick me up to go to Dustin's house." That's it? That's all she came to say? Not a bye or good luck?

But he does t get angry, he blows out some smoke and says "whatever."

"Why are you doing this? If your doing this just to be cool then you should stay here, believe or not I don't want you dying or dead because you wanna pretend to be a badass in a uniform." Billy clenched his fist and took a deep breath "it's my decision. Now shut up."

She does and soon a B.M.W. Pulls up. It was Steve. He rolls down his window. "Hey ready to go?"

She nods and goes to the car to get in. Getting inside without saying another word to Billy. Before Steve decided to pull off, he gets out of the car and goes to him. "Hey, I know what you're doing. Max told me and I just want to say good luck out there Hargrove.”

Billy was surprised, he didn’t think Steve would tell him good luck or anything like that. "Thanks." He mumbles. 

"Hey before your bus gets here you need anything, I brought some extra deodorant and I have some chips that you can snack on." Billy shook his head.

Steve nods and goes back to his car. "Don’t get yourself killed" With that he gets in his car and drives off.

an hour after he left, a white bus comes. It parks in front of him. The door opens and a male bus driver says. "Hop on kid." Billy nods and picks up his suitcase. 

He goes on the bus and sees different types of young men, some actually look older. He looks around until he sees a boy smiling towards him. He was Mexican, hazel eyes, curly hair and a dazzling smile. Billy goes over to him and sits and puts his suit case down by his feet.

"Hi my name's Louis, yours ?"

"Um Billy?"

"Good to meet you, So why did you join?" Billy hesitated for a moment before answering. "I want some respect from my old man. Also I thought I can help our country while also letting out some anger."

"Oh, okay. Well I joined...don't look down on me for this but I just didn't know what to do with myself." Billy wouldn't look down on him for that, that was also another reason why he joined. 

"I don't, I understand where you're coming from with that." Louis grins, "Thanks. So does your dad not like you or..."

"He fucking hates me."

"Wow, sorry dude."

"Don't worry about it."

"So he didn't say goodbye to you, did he?"

"None of my family did and my little step sister practically told me I'm just doing this to be a badass." Louis gave a look of sympathy then reaches into his bag. He takes out something that is foiled warped. "Wanna cookie? my mom gave me some after she said goodbye."

"No it's okay dude."

"No I insist, have one." Billy takes the offer treat and tries it. "This is good. Thank you."

"It's messed up that your family didn't say goodbye or give you anything before you left." Billy shrugs and mumbles how he's use to that sort of thing. Susan and Neil don't give a shit about him. He's not sure about Max. “Hope you're prepared for this.”

"I'm fully prepared, I know this won't be a walk in the park."

"Good, because for a good while were not going to be sleeping comfortably amigo."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comment at the end for me

For those who said that Billy Hargrove wasn't brave enough to stay in the military for more then a few weeks were wrong.

A whole year went by. Max got rides from Steve, she didn't have to worry about coming out of the arcade on time anymore.

Letters did come from him, but she didn't read them because she was a little to nervous to. Too afraid that they might be bad news." They piled up a little. 

Max was a little sad that he was gone for so long and she told her friends, but they just blew it off. She told Steve and Steve understood her better about her feelings towards Billy being gone.

Max waited and waited, wondering when he return.

Then finally, on May in spring. He finally did come back. It was 3:00 on a Thursday. A white bus pulled up and stopped. Max looks out her window, she gets excited and runs to the door. She opens it.

She goes outside to the bus, watching the door open. Her heart rate goes up as she waits. Finally she see he brother step out. His hair was short like the last time she saw him. He was wearing army pants and a white shirt. Boots on and a back pack on instead of suitcase like the last time.

Billy looks at her with his blue eyes, they looked relived. Max also notice two scares on him. One on his cheek and one his Neck. She wonders if she he had more.

Billy goes over to and puts his stuff down, he kneels down to look at her closely as if to see if she was really there. He slowly puts his arms around her and hugs her. To his surprise Max hugs back a little. 

"I'm...sorry." He whispers. Max pulls back and touches his face, feeling the scares. "What happened?"

"A lot." He simply says. He gets up and goes to his car Witch was still Park near the house. He puts his bag down and goes through it until he finds his keys. "You took your keys with you?"

"Yeah, So Neil wouldn’t sell my car or something." He unlocks the car and gets in. "Do you wanna go somewhere?"

Um my friends are getting some pizza at new pizza place that just open. I was about to ask mom to take me." 

"I'll take you, just get in." Max nods and gets in the car. 

When they got there, Max could see Steve and the others sitting by at table by the window, They go in and head towards the table. They had a pan of hot pizza on there, Looks like they waited for her to get here. “Hey guys." She says they all wave at her, but then look at Billy. 

They were all silent for a moment. "She Could of gave us a warning when he was coming back." Dustin whispers and Max hears then gives him a deadly glare. 

"Dustin quiet." Steve hisses. Max sits at the table, while Billy stands there awkwardly. "you wanna sit down dude?" Billy nods and sits. He takes a slice of pizza from the pan and gives a huge bite to it.

The rest take their slice and all the kids started talking to each other while Steve's stares at Billy's face noticing his scares. He also notices how Billy had a smile while eating his slice. 

"I never thought I have pizza again." He says with a chuckle. 

"What did you eat while you were away?"

"Mostly can shit like beans, vegetables, spam. Spam is the grossest shit ever." 

"No it's not, it's good. I love spam." Dustin says around a mouthful of pizza, Billy looks at the kid and shrug. "Then you have shit taste in food." Dustin actually looked a little offended by that. Billy finishes his slice of pizza and gets up from the table.

"I'm heading home Max, I'm sure Harrington can you get you back."

She nods as she watches Billy leave. "Max?"

"Yeah?"

"Those scares on his face and neck, what happened?" Max only shrugs."he didn't really tell me, he just said a lot happened."

"I can't believe he stayed there for an entire year, I guess Nancy was wrong." Will speaks up. She sure was, in-fact, everybody was wrong. 

"Now that's he back, you think he might be angrier from all that fighting? if he is, he might kill us." Mike says. No one could really answer that question. Billy was one of the most unpredictable people they know.

Instead of being at home Billy was in the junkyard. He was sitting by a recked car, he had some daggers with him and threw one at a car across from him. It landed in the door perfectly, he picks up another and takes aim. He hits the door again. 

He sighs and picks up the last knife, he looks at it, stares at the smudged permit marker on the base that said Louis. 

He keeps on staring at it with sadness in his eyes. Billy growls in frustration and throws the Knife, hitting the car door.

He puts his face in his hands, he starts to remember the time when that knife was offered to him.

(()()()  
(Flashback)

      It was a hot day and Billy was outside, he had some knives on a create next to him and he was throwing some into a wooden practice dummy 6 feet away from him. 

He got a few in but had to practice more, he hears his tent open and someone comes out. "Hey amigo what you are doing?"

"Practicing. Not always going to use my gun. They should of taught us more about knives in training." He picks up his last one and throws. He gets it into the head of the dummy. 

Louis goes to the dummy and retrieves the knives for him. "Mind if I try?" Louis ask

"Sure." Louis gets one knife, he carefully takes aim and throws the knife. It got in the chest area. "Nice shot." 

"Thanks." He looks at the other knives and notice something about them. "These are little dull, they're not really getting into the wood that much." He reaches into his pocket and takes a switch blade.

He gets the knife out of the base and hands it to him. "Try this one." Billy takes it and gives it a throw, It hits the head a little deeper then the others.

Billy goes and gets the knife, he's about to give it to him but Louis shakes his head. "You can have it, I have two more."

"Dude It has your name on it "

"So?"

"So it's yours, just take it." Louis takes the knife back and puts the blade away. "Hey the others are making dinner around a camp fire, you wanna come with me?"

"That depends, what's for dinner?"

"Some beans and franks." Billy thinks about it for a moment before nodding. "Better then fucking spam sandwiches like yesterday. When I go back home I'm eating a pizza."

"Me too, also a lot of my mom's cooking. I miss taco night and I miss having some good cereal for breakfast. Do you miss some of the cooking at your home?"

Billy rolls his eyes a little. "My step mom can't cook for shit. The last meal I had from her was meatloaf and it was bland as hell. Now my real mom, she cooked great. My favorite dish from her was Chicken Alfredo."

They start to walk to the main camp ground where the campfire will be and they continue to talk. "I hope we have some condiments, I don't like hotdogs plain." Billy snorts at that. "We probably don't even have bread for buns."

"You know when we get back, you can come over to my house for a fantastic dinner. You'll love it."

"Really, you mean that?"

"Yes, But on one condition."

"What?" Louis grins and takes the switchblade out of his pocket again. "You keep this knife." Billy sighs but takes it. "Fine, But It better be a damn good dinner." Louis laughs and puts his arm around him.

"Trust me amigo, it will." They talk about other things and joke with each other while walking.

)()()))()  
        
       After staying in the junk yard for a little bit longer, Billy goes to the library, there he gets a couple of books he's going to check out and he sits at a table and reads one of them.

As he's reading, someone taps on his shoulder and he jumps, he's about to go into fight mode but doesn't when he sees who it is. It was Steve.  
"Harrington don't fucking sneak up on me like that."

"Sorry. I dropped Max at home for you just so you know." 

"Mm thanks, what are you doing here?"

"Nancy wanted me to return some books for her."

"You're not her boyfriend anymore, why are you doing it? Can't she just ask her freaky boyfriend?" 

"Not everyone needs to hold a grudge Hargrove." 

"Whatever." Billy mumbles and goes back to reading his book, but he can't really do it with Steve still standing over him. "Something you need Harrington?"

"Uh if you don't mind me asking, what happened to your face while you were gone?" Billy touched his scare cheek and traces it a little. "One was from a knife, one on my neck was from shrapnel."

Steve winces at the thought of Billy face being hit by something that dangerous."must of hurt."

"Yeah no shit Sherlock." Steve now feels a little dumb for stating the obvious, of course something like that fucking hurt, Billy must of been in a lot pain, pain he probably can't even imagine.

Well maybe he can, considering he got very painful beatings twice in his life. "I'm going to be honest, a lot people thought you wouldn't last long."

"Well I did, so they can fucking suck it." He's not surprised that people doubted him. "And I guess you're one of those people who thought that too huh?"

"Well no-"

"Don't fucking lie to me Harrington."

"I'm not, believe it or not, I actually thought you weren't going to quit." 

"So who's one of the people who thought it?" Steve hesitates before saying "Nancy was the first one to say it." Billy glares a little and mumbles "of course that uptight princess thought that." 

"You can't really blame her-"

"Excuse me? I thought you just said that you didn't think that, but your agreeing with her?" Steve felt little guilty now. "It's just that.."

Billy slams his book close and gathers the rest to leave but Steve stops him. "Wait, I didn't think that, but what she said did make a little sense. Hey look you wanna have a beer? We can go to the quarry and drink there."

"Why are you offering me a beer?"

"I'm sure you haven't gotten any since you've been away." He's right, he hasn't. Billy barely got alcohol while he was there and he’s been craving some.

"Fine, But get Budweiser." Steve nods and lets Billy go to the check out desk to check out his books.

As Billy is doing that, Steve wonders if he will ever get to know what else happened to Billy while he was away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ll try to update shortly, I’ve been working on an army Billy fic for a while, should I continue?


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for the rest of the story I'm thinking about having Billy getting attached to some other soldiers that he shares a tent with, in a friendship way, like making them a band of misfits.

When Billy got home, his father was waiting for him at the door.

But it wasn't for a congratulations or for a "I'm glad you’re home son." He has a scowl on his face. "When you got home I expected you to come in and greet your family, like a respectable son."

He almost couldn't believe that Neil said that, why should he come in and greet them when they didn't even say goodbye to him? "Also is there a reason that your sister was dropped off by some stranger again, when you were back?"

"Max knows Steve Harrington, he's not a damn stranger." Neil gets in his face and glares at him. "Now that you are back, I still except you to do your responsibilities. When you take her somewhere you bring her back, am I clear?”

"Yes sir." He growls, Neil grabs his neck and squeezes, "watch your damn tone, now go in and say to hi to Susan and tell her you’re sorry for not greeting her when you got back.” He lets go of Billy's neck and steps away. 

Billy goes in the kitchen where Susan is. She was washing some dishes. She turns around and sees that her step son is standing there. "Oh Billy you're back." Billy nods and says. "Hi Susan, I'm sorry that I didn't come in and say hi earlier."

"That's okay." She says with a fake smile. "You’re just in time for dinner, a chicken is in the oven." Billy nods and starts walking out the kitchen.

He goes to his room and shuts the door, everything was where he left it. He takes off his boots then pants, finally his shirt. 

As he's looking for some new clothes, he notices his body in his mirror, different scares covered him. some on his back and a few on his chest. Getting a lot of them were very painful.

Billy quickly gets some new clothes on. Some jeans and a light blue button up shirt. Of course he doesn't button all of the buttons, leaving his chest and chain exposed. 

He gets out of his room to go to the dinner table and he sees Max in the hallway getting out of her room. 

When they got there, they sat at the table and so did Neil, their plates were already set out and once Susan sat down with her plate, they began eating. "Billy if I knew you were coming back, I would of made a cake."

Bullshit. That's complete bullshit. Even if Susan knew he was coming back today, she would have never made him a cake. He remembers when he was 15 he went to summer camp and no one cared that he was gone or even back.

Susan didn't do anything special for him, not a cake, not a special dinner, not even a damn How was summer camp Billy?

Oh but when Max was away for two days to see her dad, Susan welcomed her back with open arms, she made her cookies and her favorite meal for dinner. Remembering that always left a bitter taste in his mouth. 

They continue to eat in silence, but that was until Max decides to speak. "We can try making a cake for him tomorrow.”

"I would, it's just that I'm very busy tomorrow."

Again, bullshit. 

"Soldiers don't get special treats for just doing their job." Neil grunts. "Especially if they're not respectable enough to greet their family when they get back." Billy clenches his hand around his fork. He wants nothing more then to throw his plate at Neil's fucking face. 

But he counts to ten in his head and keeps eating. 

That's okay, he doesn't need Susan to make him a terrible tasting cake anyway. 

        )()(()((()

            The Next day Billy was sitting by the quarry in his car. Waiting for Steve to be here with the beer. 

He's been waiting for a while now. He thinks about leaving until he finally sees a car pull up. Steve steps out with a case of Budweiser. "Sorry I'm late, I had to drop Dustin off at the movies with Lucas."

"Whatever. You're here now." Steve takes a can out of the case and throws it to him, Billy catches it with ease. "So when you got home, did you and your family do anything special?”

"Pff no. The only thing I got special was extra dry chicken from Susan." 

"Really, Nothing?"

"Nope." Billy says popping the P, he opens his can and takes a sip. "Tough luck dude." 

"Nobody is happy to see me back...well Max is a little." And Billy can't blame them, he was a jerk. "You know Harrington I bet if was you in my place everyone would be happy to see you. Because everyone loves king Steve."

"You still think of me as that? Dude I'm not a king and back then I wasn't a king either."

"That's only because you let Byers beat you up and take your girlfriend." Steve glares at him. "If you’re going to be an asshole while I'm here, I might leave."

"Don't get your panties in a butch, Half it is true. Everyone just adores you, while others probably want me dead or just not around anymore."

"Come on Billy you're over reacting a little."

"Am I? That kid with the curly hair wished Max could gave them a warning for when I got back and the looks they gave me when I showed up there." Billy saw how they look a little scared and disappointed that he was back. "You did scare the shit out of them when you...you know."

"Right...also I'm sorry about that." Steve almost spat back his drink into the can. "What?"

"I said I'm sorry all right, for messing up your face. Should of just left when you told me to." 

"Wow.”

"What?"

"I thought you never say those words to me." Billy scoffs and drinks more of his beer. "I'm capable of apologizing Harrington, I just don't do it often."

"Why not?"

Billy shrugs. "Probably cause I'm too angry to do it." Also most of his life he's been force to apologize when he didn't need to by Neil. 

"Speaking of angry, the kids are wondering-"

"If I'll try to kill them now that I'm back?" 

"Yeah, how did you-"

"Max told me that they think I'm angrier now and I might be more violent, but to be honest I'm not." Billy did too much fighting when he was away, he doesn't want to fight or cause violence. He Just wants to relax and just settle down. "So when you see them, tell them I'm not plotting to kill them."

Steve nods and drinks the rest of his beer and throws the can off the edge of the cliff, Billy finishes his and does the same, but gets his further then Steve's. 

"I would take a second beer but I don't want to get drunk and not drive." Steve nods, completely understanding. "Thanks for the beer."

"Your welcome Hargrove. I gotta go." Steve goes back to his car, but not before throwing Billy an extra beer. "For later." Then he gets in his car and leaves. 

Billy goes to his car and opens his glove compartment. He puts his beer in there and starts to drive. 

Billy was back at home, Neil wasn't home so he was watching T.V. on the couch, there was nothing really on so he turns off the T.V. and goes to his room. 

He shuts his door and gets one of his books to read. He was about to read until his eyes turn to the Bikini model poster on his wall. 

He never really liked that poster, espically now that's he's back.

        (()()()()  
(Flashback)

Billy was in a big tent that he shared with his squadron. He was lying on a camping cot and he was bored out of his mind. 

"Hey..Hey Hargrove." He hears one of his bunk mates whisper. Billy turns around and sees the person grinning at him. He was a young man with a blonde buzz cut and he had green eyes. "What Andrews?"

"Check this out." He throws a magazine at him. He looks at the cover and sees its playboy. "Check out the fifth page." Billy does and just sees an almost naked black haired women on the page. "She's got a nice rack doesn't she?"

Billy only rolls his eyes, "Yeah sure whatever." 

"Not hot enough?"

"Not my type." 

"Oh, then check out the 10th page, there's a hot redhead you might like." 

"No, plus I am already dealing with an annoying red head at home." He throws the magazine back at him. "Then what is your type?"

"None of your business, now shut up and go to sleep."

"Yeah Andrews, nobody cares that your getting horny right now, so shut up." One Asian boy says from his bed. His name is Josh, Billy learned that him and his family were from Korea. 

"Oh you’re just mad that your girlfriend broke up with you before you got here." Josh takes a pillow and throws at him. "Shut the fuck and go to sleep." 

"Both of y'all shut the fuck up and go to sleep, you stupid burros." This time it was Louis that was speaking. 

They both flip him off as a response. Billy sighs and gets up. He goes out the tent for some air, Louis notices and follows him. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just having a little bit of trouble sleeping."

"Any reason?"

"Just not tired.”

"Okay. Hey when you said that the girl wasn't your type, did you..don't get mad but did you mean that...are you not into girls?" Billy glares at him and clenches his fist. "I'm not a fagg."

"Dude look I won't care if you're not into women."

"How would you know that I'm not?"

"Because you have the same bored look that I have when I look at naked women." Billy's eyes go wide for a moment. "You're-"

"Yeah."

There was a moment of silence, it was a little awkward. "Also I notice how last week around the campfire, one of the other troops had a porno magazine with women and they were passing it around to look it, you wouldn't even touch the thing." 

"Yeah and neither did you."

"If you like dudes, then that's fine. I won't judge you for it."

"That's because you're already gay. You know I have playboy magazines in my room and a bikini model poster....I hate them."

"So I'm right?”

"Yeah and if you tell anyone else, I’ll kill you.” 

"Well if you hate them, then get rid of them."

"I only have them because my dad-"

"Screw your dad, he can't force you to like something like that. You know what, when you return home. I want you to go in your room, take them out and throw them away.”

"Or I can just return them and get my money back."

"Yeah but what better way then to say screw you dad I'm gay by throwing them away." Billy actually laughs and punches him on the shoulder.

"You're so lame." Louis also laughs and playful pushes him. "Just promise to do it."

"I’ll think about it."

           )()()()()

Billy gets up from his bed and goes over to the poster. He takes it off and wraps it up. Then he goes in his drawer and gets the playboy magazines.

He carries all of them to the kitchen, there he gets a garbage bag from underneath the sink and puts everything in there. After tying up the bag tightly, he goes outside to the trashcan.

As he’s putting them in the garbage, he says. “Louis if you can see me now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter the flashbacks will start to get violent. Thanks to the few who left kudos and feedback, I’ll try to continue


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter involves the subject of terrorism, if that is a triggering subject for you then don’t read this chapter. Also a bit of homophobic language. Sorry for any mistakes in this chapter

Steve, Nancy and Jonathan are at Steve's house and they were all sitting down in lawn chairs having some beer and chips.  
"How's max?" Jonathan ask as Steve passes him a chip bowl. "She's fine, Why?"

"Cause Billy is back." Steve sighs, now Jon is starting to think the same thing as the others. "Look I know what you're thinking, but Billy is not worse then he was before.”

"You sure? Cause I heard being in the army can have very negative effects, especially on people like Billy." Nancy says.

"He says he's not angry, in fact the whole the time's been here, he's looked exhausted." Nancy bites her lip, she didn't seem to believe him.  
Just then they hear the door bell ring. "I'll get that.” Steve stands up and goes inside the house.

When he opens the front door he's surprised to see Billy standing there. "Oh hey what's up?" 

"...I know we're not friends or whatever but can I hang here for a while?" 

"Sure, But why and how did know where my house is?"

"Max told me your address and my father is a little mad me." Neil saw that the poster wasn’t up anymore and he gave Billy a look that said. "You fucking fagg." The look was full hatred, now he didn't hit Billy, but if Billy stuck around he might have.

"What's he mad at you for?”

"For some stupid shit." Billy walks in and sees the patio door. Outside that door he sees some people in lawn chairs. "If you have guest I can leave."

"No it's okay, it's only Nancy and Jonathan." Steve goes to patio door and goes back outside. Billy hesitates but follows him. When he's outside, Nancy and Jonathan both look at him. “Wheeler, Byers, pleasure seeing you here." He says sarcastically. Nancy rolls her eyes. "And it's great that you're back Billy." She says with her own sarcastic tone.

Billy flops down in a chair and takes the bowl of chips and stuffs some in his mouth. "So why are you here?" 

"His dad is mad at him."

"For what?" Billy smirks around a mouthful of chips. "I dumped some whore in a trash can." All of them look at him with wide eyes. Nancy looked like she was about to give Billy a piece of her mind, but Billy cuts her off.

"Calm down princess, it was just a poster of a naked women." They gave a sigh of relief but Nancy mumbles about him having a sick sense of humor. "Why is he mad at you for that?" Johnathan ask.

"It's complicated."  

They all sit in silence for a while, but Billy then speaks again. "Wheeler why don't you stop staring at me like I'm here to cause trouble and relax." 

"Sorry." She mumbles but she didn't sound like it. Steve was starting to get uncomfortable by the tense of the silence. "Hey I got an idea, why don't we go inside and watch some T.V."

They all nod and get up from their chairs, they go inside to the living room. Steve goes up to the T.V. and turns it on. 

The first thing they see on the television was the News. A story about an armored robbery at a bank was being told and they're were hostages

"God this is sad." Nancy says with a look of disappointment. Steve nods and looks a little angry. "I hope those assholes get what they deserve." 

Billy pays attention to the story and breathes heavily a little bit. Some anger is bubbling up in him. But he snaps out of it when the channel is changed. 

"Dude?" Steve says.

"Huh? What?"

"Are you okay? you look like you're about to have a heart attack." Billy calms himself down and nods. "Hey I gotta go." 

"But you just got here."

"I know, I just remembered I gotta do something." With that he goes to the front door and leaves. Steve hoped he was okay, because he noticed that he had anger and so much distraught in his eyes

Billy was in the the park sitting on a bench, he was trying to clear his head of what he saw on the news.  
Seeing something like that again made him shake a little.

)()()()()()

(Flashback) 

Billy and his group was in the military base, other soldiers were around some jets, fixing them, having conversations and some were doing some exercises

Billy was with his usual group. Josh, Andrews and Louis, they were sitting at a table cleaning guns and sharpening knives, they were given the order to do it by their superior. 

"Fuck I think there's a bullet fragment jammed in here." Andrew grunts and looks into the barrel of the gun. Billy takes it away from him. "Don't inspect a gun like that, moron." 

Josh mumbles how come they got stuck with Andrews while he continues to sharpen a knife.  "Here I'll handle the gun, why don't you work on this dagger." Billy hands it to him.

"You guys have such little faith in me." Josh was about to insult him but Louis cuts him off. "Just sharpen the knife, so we can hurry up and finish." The other boy nods and does his task. 

An hour passed and they were finally done, they organize it in certain piles for each kind of gun and knife.

"Come on, let's get some food, they have barbecue today." They all get up from the weapons table and walk around the base until they get to the lunch area.

There was a big grill and there was a fellow soldier behind it, there was picnic tables with other soldiers eating. The man behind the grill sees them and grins. "Grab a plate boys, get it while's hot." All of them go to a small table where there are paper plates, plastic forks, and buns for both hot dogs and burgers.

They get their plates and choice of buns, then go to the front of the grill to get their food.  Billy gets a hamburger with some cheese.  
His mouth his watering, he can't wait to eat something besides canned food.

Once all of them get they're plates filled with food, they go to a table. "The only thing that could make this better is some patatas fritas." 

"What?" Andrews ask.

"French fries."

"Oh, I don't think there's a deep fryer here for that anyway, I'm surprised they manage to get a big grill like that."

"Well let's enjoy this while it last." Billy says as he takes a big bite and his face is pure bliss. Louis chuckles. "Better then spam?"

"Fuck Yeah." As they're talking to each other, a young man walks to their table. "Hey can I sit here?" They look at up from their food when he got their attention.

He was a black boy with brown eyes and a short haircut, he had a tattoo of a crescent moon on his neck. "Yeah sure man." Louis says.

"Thanks. hey your Billy Hargrove right?" He ask while pointing to Billy, Billy nods. "The Lieutenant switched me to your tent, my old one is getting a little crowed."

"Oh, so what's your name?" 

"James."

"Okay James, as you already know I'm Billy, that's Louis, Josh and Andrews." All of them wave to him and James slightly waves back. 

"welcome to unit jackass." Billy jokes and Josh rolls his eyes. "Is there anything you gotta do to be part of your unit?" James smirks

Billy shrugs. "You just gotta be dumb enough to want to join." 

"Then I guess am part of it." They all laugh together, but that laughter was cut short when they all hear a gun shot ring out. Almost everyone jumps up. 

Another shot shoots out and someone shouts "look, it's coming from the watch tower." There Everyone sees a man with a gun and he was pointing it out of the tower. 

Another shot rang out and it hits the man who is at that grill. He goes down to ground instantly, he was shot in the arm.

"Shit." Billy whispers. Then they see the man pick up a megaphone. "Gave me all the weapons here and no one else gets hurt, also I want a jet now. If I don't get what I want your look out troop in here with me gets shot." The man was dressed in a uniform like them.

"Fuck, how did this guy get in here?”

"A lot of people were busy. Plus he’s dressed like us.” James says, Billy huffs and rushes to a supply table, he grabs a megaphone that the Lieutenant uses. "Hey up in the tower. why are you doing this?”

"Hargrove, what the fuck are you doing!?" Billy turns around and sees the Lieutenant staring at him with anger in his eyes. 

"You can kill me later sir." He says while covering the mega phone. "How did you get here?”

The man in the tower narrows his eyes at him but answers, “I signed up, so I can get in. My family is from Ukraine, I learned about the Soviet Union from them and I think it’s wrong that the U.S. government is trying to interfere with something that doesn’t concern them. Trying to stop us. I want to show your government that we are not to be trifled with.” 

“This just a personal mission?"

"Yes and if you don't give me what I want, I will kill more of you." 

Billy sighs and puts the megaphone down. "Great just what we need, some nut job." 

"What do you need the weapons for?"

"For personal attacks, take out those who want to oppose us."

"So you're a terrorist?"

"A terrorist doesn't care about his country, I do. I'm not hurting innocent people, I want to hurt your government and any other authorities who are against my country." 

Billy chooses his next words carefully. "Hurting them won't change anything.”

"You do not know that, now give me my weapons and jet, make sure there are bombs to it." Billy sighs before speaking again. "I'll bring them, just let the troop go."

"Hargrove!" The lieutenant shouts, Billy goes over to him. "I know you wanna probably strangle me right now, but please I can handle this...I can take care of this. I don’t want one of our troops to die.”

The Lieutenant growls before saying "you better know what you’re doing." 

"I do."

Billy goes over the weapons tables and gets a bag. As he's loading it, Louis goes over to him. "What the fuck are you doing? You're going to get yourself killed!"

"Trust me Louis, I have a plan." 

But before Louis can say anything else, Billy finishes packing the bag and runs over to the tower."

Once he's in, he goes up the stairs as quick as he can. At the top he sees the man with the gun and the watch tower troop, on the floor knocked out. "Do you have the weapons?"

"Yes. If you don't hurt him, I'll give them to you.”

"I won't, now give them to me." Billy nods and puts the bag down and his hands up. The man slowly goes over to the bag with his gun still pointed at Billy. 

When he's close enough, he bends down to pack the bag up. Billy kicks him in the face, making the man drop the gun to clench his nose. Billy tackles him.

They wrestle on the ground and Billy gets him in a choke hold. "Those weapons aren't loaded anyway you piece of shit."

The man snarls and quickly takes a knife he had at his side, he slashes Billy on the cheek. 

"Fuck!" He shouts, Billy's grip loosens on him and the man punches him on the same cheek he slashed. Billy screams in pain and he’s wrestled to the floor. The man gets on top of him.

"You little shit, you thought you could outsmart me? You must have a fucking death wish." He says growling in Billy's face,

"Fuck you." Billy head butts him and both shout. Billy then punches him in the throat, making the guy choke and drop the knife.

Billy quickly picks it up and stabs him in the shoulder. He goes down clutching it, blood pouring from his wound. Billy gets up, grabs the gun and points at him. "You try anything and I will kill you."

Soon Billy makes the man go out the tower with the gun still pointed at him. Two men rush over to the enemy and start dragging him away. 

The Lieutenant goes over to Billy. “I outta have you kicked out! But...you did save a fellow soldier so your punishment is laundry duty for two months and 10 laps every morning, am I clear?”

"Yes sir."

"Good, now go to the infirmary." Billy nods and starts heading there. His tent mates rush over to him and Louis smacks him on the head. "Don't you ever fucking do that again! now are you okay?"

Billy sighs, but nods. He only did it because he rather die himself then let another good solider die. "But if you ever do something like that again, then at least bring us as back up. If we’re a unit then w’ell be jackasses together." 

"And you have a new member." James says. 

"Glad to see we didn't scare you off." Billy mumbles. 

)()()()()()

"Hargrove...Hargrove..Hargrove!" Billy snaps out of it and sees the chief of police. "Oh, hi officer."

"Are you okay Hargrove? I saw you practically Hyperventilating."

"Yes sir I'm okay, what are you doing here?"

"Just patrolling the area. I know that you just got back from the military, are you sure you're okay?" Billy nods again. 

"Well you look stressed, why don’t you and me take a drive-"

"I didn't do anything sir."

"Calm down son. I'm not arresting you, we can go and get some coffee then talk."

"Why do you want to talk to me sir?" If he's not in trouble then what does the chief need him for?

"I wanna help you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopper will be helping Billy with his ptsd for the rest of the story and so will Steve. If you like where this going let me know.


	5. Chapter 5

Billy and Hopper go to a diner to talk and have some coffee. 

They both go inside and sit at a table. The waitress comes over, ready to take their order. But before Hop could order two coffees, Billy says. "Can I get a chocolate milkshake please?" She nods as she writes it down and she then looks at Hopper.

"Coffee for me please."  

"One coffee and one milkshake, coming up."  Once she leaves, Billy speaks. "Didn't really feel like having coffee right now." 

Billy wanted something sweet, Billy's been craving a lot of sweet stuff since's he's been back. Hop nods and ask "How have you've been Billy?"

"Uh...okay I guess."

"Feeling any different?" Billy thinks for a moment before only shrugging. "I feel a little more tired, but...it's hard to explain."

Soon the waitress comes back with a coffee and milkshake. Once it's in front of Billy, he immediately takes a sip, enjoying the sweet taste. "Have you had any hard times dealing with loud noises, seeing certain things? Anything that might trigger you?"

"Trigger me?"

"Yes. I notice in the park that you were ready to freak out any moment. Was there something that bothered you earlier?" Billy thinks for a while taking another sip of his milkshake. "I don't think so."

"Billy I need you to be honest, please."Billy sighs and hesitate for moment. "I was at Harrington's house and we were about to watch T.V. and we saw this news story."

"What was it about?"

"It was a...a story about a hostage situation and seeing it just made me think of a situation that happened. There was this guy at the military base I was at and he held us at gun point. Making demands."

Hopper looked a bit surprised by this. "Were you hurt?"

"Yeah, the scare on my cheek. I got it from that situation." 

"Wow kid, I'm sorry to hear this." Billy gives another small shrug and stirs his straw in his cup. "It's no big deal." 

"But I'm sure you were scared."

"A little, but I guess it's part of being in the military. Sir you said you wanted to help me, What do I need help with?"

"you may be suffering from PTSD. I know the signs well. You were showing some of them in the park." Billy raised his brow a little, "How would you know the signs of that? Do you have it?"

"No, but I know someone who does. Well actually I know two people who have it. If you experience anything like that again, there's this place you can go to." Hop takes out a pen and gets a napkin.

He writes an address down on it and gives it to Billy. "what's this?" 

"It's the address to a group therapy session. It's for veterans, officers, Navy marines, anyone who's served." 

"No offense officer, but therapy is bullshit." 

"Sometimes it is, but there will be people there who are like you. They'll know how you feel. If you want, I'll go with you on your first day."

"How did you know about this place?”

"Found it in a phone book, I needed somewhere to send police officers who have delt with stuff like shoot outs or any other triggering situations." 

Billy snorts at that a little. "There's been shoot outs in this boring town?”

"Believe it or not, yes. It's just been slow on crime lately." Billy drinks the rest of his milkshake and decideds. “If it happens again, I'll call you and you can take me there."

Hop nods and finishes his coffee, Billy reaches into his pocket, taking out some money.

"I'll pay for the milkshake, don't worry about it." 

Billy puts the money back in his pocket and stands up. "I'll see you around officer.”

"You too son." 

Billy was back in his car and he starts it, he wasn't going home yet. He had something plan for the day. 

It's not too late, so he can still do it. Billy starts the car and try's to remember the nearest flower shop. 

in the evening, Billy was at a certain house. It was the Sinclair house

In the back seat was some flowers he got. They were red roses, mix with some pink ones. Billy gets out of the car and then goes to the back to get the flowers. 

He goes up to the house and knocks. He waits a moment before the door opens. He sees Ms.Sinclair. She looked a little surprise.

"You look familiar."

"Um, I'm Billy. We’ve met before."

"Oh, now I remember. You came to the house once looking for your sister." Billy nods. "Yeah. Ms.Sinclair I came to apologize for what I did to your son. I've been feeling shitty for what I did to him and I know it’s way too late to apologize to you...I just needed to say it."

There was an awkward silence, before Billy speaks again. "Also I got you these, but if you don't want them that's okay-"

"Billy?"

"Yes?"

"Would like to come inside and maybe stay for dinner?" Billy didn't really know what to say. "I'm not sure." But she smiles and ushers him in.

"I insist." She takes the roses and smells them a little. "These are lovely, I have the perfect vase for them."

She leads him further inside and they go to the dinning room and they both sit down at the table. "Thank you for the flowers and thank you for apologizing. But Lucas said you already said sorry to him months ago."

"I did. But I wanted to apologize to you also. I'm really sorry."

"What made you want to apologizing again?”

"Um, while I was in the military, I promise myself I would at least try to be a better person if I made it out alive."

"Oh that's right. Max said you were away there. Well I appreciate this and I'm glad you want to do better and doing this is the right step in the direction."

"I'm doing this one step at a time m'am." He says with a small smile and the women smiles back. "So the military, that must of been something. your cheek...and neck. Are you okay?”

"Yeah I'm okay. These aren't really the worst I've had." 

"Also you had longer hair the last time I saw you."

"Had to get it cut before I went away. Didn't need a buzz cut, my hair just couldn't be at my shoulders." Witch Billy was very thankful for, he was still able to have some of his curls. 

"Now you must be hungry for some proper food now that you’re back. You had to eat a lot of canned food right?"

"Yes M'am, almost everyday."

"Well You're in luck, I'm making beef stew with some dinner rolls." 

"Sounds delicious." Just then two people come into the kitchen. It was Lucas and Erica. Lucas gapes, while Erica just stares at Billy.

"Um what is he doing here?" Lucas ask, trying not to sound rude.

"He's joining us for dinner." 

"Oh..okay." Lucas was about to go, but Billy calls him over. "Lucas.” Lucas was a little scared, but goes over to him. "Um Yeah?"

"I know I said this before, but I'm really sorry and just to show there’s no hard feelings. I'll take you and Max to a movie next week on Friday, all right? I'll pay for everything."

Lucas looks at him wide eyed. "Wow, really?"

"Yeah, That is, if it's okay with your mother." Mrs. Sinclair nods. "You can go sweetie."

"Awesome." He grins. 

"What do you say Lucas?" 

"Oh, Thank you." With that Lucas smiles a bit and goes out the room. Erica goes to the table and sits down near him. 

"You're not a nerd are you?"

"Erica!"

"No its okay Mrs. Sinclair. No not really. Well I do love books, Does that make me a nerd?" Erica shakes her head. 

"You look cool, espically with that." She points to the scare on his cheek. Billy smirks a bit. "Thanks. I call it my battle scare."

"Woah, you went into battles?" 

Ms. Sinclair sighs and gets up from the table to go to the fridge. She starts getting stuff out for dinner. "Would you like me to help you ma'am?”

"Sure-"

"Wait Mom, I wanna talk to him. Please?" Ms. Sinclair smiles a bit, realizing her daughter is having a little crush. "Well okay."

"Yes!" Erica grabs his hand and starts leading him out the room. "So what's your name?"

"Billy." 

"I'm Erica. I like you better then my brother's dorky friends already." 

"Really now?"

"Yeah, you look cool and you're not a spazz. Come on let's go to my room. I have some jewelry that would make you look even cooler.”  
Billy chuckles a bit and continues to follow her. 

In three hours Billy was leaving and was wearing some candy necklaces and fake rings Erica gave him.

He said goodbye to everyone and Mrs.Sinclair told him he can come by anytime, she even invited to a barque that they will be having for when the kids get out of school. 

Erica said goodbye while also batting her eyelashes at him and Lucas rolled his eyes.

Soon Billy was in car, heading back home. He feels so much better.


End file.
